Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
ISSN 1076-9005
http://www.buddhistethics.org/
Volume 13, 2006
Abstract
The present article offers a translation of the Sayukta-gama parallel to
the Sleyyaka-sutta of the Majjhima-nikya, followed by an examination of
the differences found between the Chinese and Pli versions. This
comparison shows the degree to which oral transmission has influenced the
shape of the two versions.
Introduction
The ten courses of action (kammapatha) are a central category in early
Buddhist ethics. 1 In their unwholesome manifestation, these ten courses of
action cover:
1. three bodily aspects: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct;
2. four verbal aspects: false speech, malicious speech, harsh speech,
and gossiping;
3. three mental aspects: covetousness, ill will, and wrong view.
According to the Pli discourses, to undertake these ten unwholesome
courses of action will have evil results now and in the future, 2 and will lead
to a bad rebirth just as surely as a die thrown up into the air will fall to the
ground and remain there. 3
and condition for] being reborn in hell after the breaking up of the body at
death."
The Brahmin householders said to the Buddha: "What is the cause and
condition for beings to attain rebirth in heaven after the breaking up of the
body at death?"
The Buddha told the Brahmin householders: "Undertaking righteous
conduct, undertaking right conduct, this is the cause and condition for
attaining rebirth in heaven after the breaking up of the body at death."
They asked again: "Blessed One, undertaking what type of righteous
conduct, what kind of right conduct, [is the cause and condition for]
attaining rebirth in heaven after the breaking up of the body at death?"
11-14. The Buddha told the Brahmin householders: "Namely, abstaining
from killing living beings(and so on up to) right view, the ten wholesome
courses of action are the cause and condition, for attaining rebirth in
heaven after the breaking up of the body at death.
15-17. Brahmin householders, if there is [someone who] undertakes this
righteous conduct, undertakes this right conduct, and [who] wishes to seek
[rebirth] in a great family of warriors, in a great family of Brahmins, in a
great family of householders, he will attain all these places of rebirth. Why
is that? Because of the cause and condition of righteous conduct and right
conduct.
18-23. Again, if [someone] wishes to seek rebirth among the Four Great
Kings, the gods of the Thirty-three(and so on up to) the gods that wield
power over others' creation, all these places of rebirth will be attained. Why
is that? Because of righteous conduct and right conduct, [one who]
maintains pure morality will naturally attain all that his heart wishes.
24-27. Again, if there is [someone with] such righteous conduct and
right conduct, [who] wishes to seek rebirth in the Brahm world, he will also
attain that place of rebirth. Why is that? Because he has undertaken
righteous conduct and right conduct. Keeping morality perfectly pure and
separating the mind from craving and sensual desires, whatever he wishes
he will certainly attain.
S 1042:
Location
destruction of influxes
Location
attainment of jhnas
attainment of brahmavihras
and immaterial spheres
sutta lists three subdivisions of this realm. Again, after referring to the realm
of the third jhna in general, 34 the Pli version lists also three subdivisions of
this realm.
realms in MN 41:
corresponding jhna:
brahmakyik dev
bh dev
parittbh dev
appambh dev
bhassar dev
subh dev
parittasubh dev
appamasubh dev
subhaki dev
vehappal dev
1st jhna
2nd jhna in general
2nd jhna weak attainment
2nd jhna medium attainment
2nd jhna superior attainment
3rd jhna in general
3rd jhna weak attainment
3rd jhna medium attainment
3rd jhna superior attainment
4th jhna
10
11
12
13
its range of benefits of the ten wholesome courses of action. Yet, by taking
up a whole range of meditative attainments, covering the jhnas, the
brahmavihras, the immaterial attainments, various supernormal
knowledges, and all four stages of awakening, the Sayukta-gama version
throws more clearly into relief that the ten wholesome courses of action
have the potential to ensure fulfillment of any wish, whether such wish be
for social status, heavenly pleasures, supernatural power, or liberating
insight.
Notes
1
Keown (2001:29) lists the ten courses of action as one out of "four major
canonical formulations of moral precepts."
2
AN 10:167 at AN V 250,19.
3
AN 10:206 at AN V 294,15.
4
DN 26 at DN III 73,21.
5
SN 42:6 at SN IV 313,27.
6
AN 10:28 at AN V 57,28.
7
AN 10:169 at AN V 252,14.
8
MN 41 at MN I 285-290.
9
Cousins (1983:5) remarks that "divergences are typically greatest in matters of little importancesuch items as the locations of suttas, the names of
individual speakers or the precise order of occurrence of events. Only very
rarely are they founded on doctrinal or sectarian differences."
10
For other examples see Anlayo (2005).
11
Akanuma (1990:165).
12
A website dedicated to this ongoing research is under construction at
www.suttacentral.net.
13
Yin-shun (1962:711).
14
S 1042 at T II 272c18-273a27. Although the Sleyyaka-sutta appears to be
without a Sanskrit fragment or Tibetan parallel, a listing of the ten courses
of action can be found in a Daottara-stra fragment edited in Schlingloff
14
(1962:27) (for other Sanskrit references see Bechert (2003:31) s.v. karmapatha), and in a stra quotation in amathadeva's Abhidharmakoopyik-k
at D mngon pa ju 238b5 or Q tu 272b6 (this quotation is a counterpart to AN
10:174 at AN V 261,19 and S 1049 at T II 274b23).
15
On this Sayukta-gama collection see also Bucknell (2006) and L
(1963:242); on its translator see Bagchi (1927:378). Choong (2000) offers a
comparison of major parts of this collection with their Pli counterparts.
16
T 2085 at T LI 865c25, translated in Legge (1998:111), see also de Jong
(1981:105) and Glass (2006:20-25).
17
On the school affiliation of the Sayukta-gama see Mayeda (1985:99) and
Schmithausen (1987:306), on the relationship or perhaps identity between
Sarvstivda and Mlasarvstivda see Enomoto (2000).
18
In order to facilitate comparing my translation of the Sayukta-gama discourse with the English translation of the Sleyyaka-sutta offered in
amoli (2005:379-385), I adopt the same paragraph numbering as used by
amoli. For the same reason, I also use Pli terminology, without thereby
intending to take a position on the original language of the Sayukta-gama
manuscript.
19
The Taish () and Fo-guang () editions do not give a title, so I follow Anesaki (1908:115) in taking as title the name of the village given in S
1042 at T II 272c19 as (Bi-luo-mo), which Anesaki suggests corresponds
to Velma. In fact, the early middle Chinese pronunciation of , following Pulleyblank (1991), would be pji' la ma, a pronunciation equally valid for
a (Song), (Yuan), and (Ming) variant of the name of the location as
(Bi-luo-mo). In regard to this variant, the next and otherwise similar
discourse S 1043 at T II 273a29 supports the reading . T 2130 at T LIV
1040a10 explains to mean "many offerings," (yi yue
zhong zhong shi ye), which could be a reference to the Velmamahyaa
mentioned in Ps III 90 or Mp IV 100. To take as standing for Velma
would also find support in the way this proper name is rendered in the parallels to an occurrence of the name of the Brahmin Velma in AN 9:20 at AN
IV 393,16. The parallel T 72 at T I 878c11 speaks of (Bi-luo-mo), T 74 at
15
T I 880a23 of (Mi-luo-mo), and E 27:3 at T II 644c6 of (Pi-luomo), so that these three versions employ the same second character used in
S 1042 and the third character found as a variant reading in S 1042. Another parallel to AN 9:20, T 73 at T I 879b8, renders Velma as (Bi-landa), and thus employs the first character used in S 1042. The first two
characters used in S 1042 recur in the same Sayukta-gama collection, for
example in S 913 at T II 229c4 or in S 1074 at T II 279a28, to render
(Uru)vela, () (Yu-bi-luo). Thus it seems safe to conclude that S 1042
takes place at a village by the name of Velma, though a Kosalan village by
this name does not appear to be known in the Pli tradition, see Law
(1979:4) and Malalasekera (1995:695). A Kosalan village with a somewhat
similar name is the Veudvra village mentioned in SN 55:7 at SN V 352,16,
which its counterpart in S 1044 at T II 273b10 refers to as (Bi-niuduo-luo).
20
The (Shen-shu) grove, which recurs in S 619 at T II 173b6 and S
1044 at T II 273b10 as a grove located north of two other villages in the Kosalan country, and in S 565 at T II 148c12 as a grove north of a village in the
Koliyan country, seems to stand for a sisap grove, a grove of Indian Rosewood trees (Dalbergia sissoo). The Mahparinirva-stra similarly associates a
iap grove with various locations, each time specified to be "north of the
village," uttarea grmasya, see frag. S 360 folio 164 R4, folio 170 R3, and folio
178 V5+R1 in Waldschmidt (1950:14, 17, and 21).
21
The abbreviation is found in the Chinese original.
22
S 1042 at T II 273a15: (A-jia-ni-zha).
23
Rosenberg (1987:81) points out that "memory isnot a reduplicative
procesbut a procedure of creative reconstruction."
24
MN 41 at MN I 285,8: iti pi so bhagav
25
S 1042 at T II 272c20.
26
MN 41 at MN I 285,18. For a study of different approach formulas see Allon
(1997:18-190).
27
16
17
44
18
S 1042 at T II 272c21.
45
S 1043 at T II 273b2. This passage in S 1043 thus parallels a standard
pericope used also in other Pli discourses to describe how someone approaches the Buddha by vehicle, see for example MN 89 at MN II 119,13.
46
M 107 and M 108 at T I 596c-598b, parallels to MN 17 at MN I 104-108.
47
SN 54:13-14 at SN V 328-334.
48
S 810 at T II 208a-c. SN 54:13-14 are followed by another two versions of
the same discourse, SN 54:15-16 at SN V 334-340, addressed by the Buddha
to an unspecified group of monks either at their request or without a request. In this case, the Pli discourse pair has a parallel in the discourse pair
S 811-812 at T II 208c10. As the Pli versions do not give the names of this
group of monks, it could be assumed that the same discourse was given to
two different groups of monks (or to two different single monks in the Chinese versions).
49
This account can be found in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in T 1428 at T
XXII 968b15, in the Mahsghika Vinaya in T 1425 at XXII 491c2, in the Mahsaka Vinaya in T 1421 at T XXII 191a19, in the (Mla-)sarvstivda Vinaya
in T 1451 at T XXIV 407a3, in the Sarvstivda Vinaya in T 1435 at T XXIII
449a20, and in the Theravda Vinaya at Vin II 287,12. According to Th 1024,
nanda had mastered 80,000 teachings, catursti sahassni ye me dhamm
pavattino, and AN 1:14 at AN I 24,32 reckons nanda an outstanding monk
disciple for his learning and memory, etad agga mama svakna
bhikkhna bahussutna . . . satimantna, yadida nando, qualities of
nanda similarly highlighted in its counterpart E 4.7 at T II 558a26:
, (suo yi bu wang, duo-wen guang-yuan). According to the
Saghabhedavastu in Gnoli (1978:54,18), already before nanda went forth it
was predicted that he would win eminence in remembering what he had
heard, anena kumrea rutidharm agrea bhavitavyam iti, a quality that
was the outcome of an aspiration made by him in a former life to win such
eminence in the future, see Gnoli (1978:66,15, and 67,14).
19
Abbreviations
(Quotations are according to the PTS and Taish editions, giving first the
discourse by number, and then its location by volume, page and line.)
AN
Be
E
D
DN
M
MN
Mp
Ps
Q
S
S2
S3
Se
SN
Sn
T
Th
Vin
Aguttara-nikya
Burmese edition
Ekottarika-gama (T 125)
Derge edition
Dgha-nikya
Madhyama-gama (T 26)
Majjhima-nikya
Manorathapra
Papacasdan
Peking edition
Sayukta-gama (T 99)
(partial) Sayukta-gama (T 100)
(partial) Sayukta-gama (T 101)
Siamese edition
Sayutta-nikya
Sutta-nipta
Taish
Theragth
Vinaya
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I am indebted to Marcus Bingenheimer and Rod Bucknell for comments
made in regard to an earlier draft of this article.